Let's Jez see

I am an Andy Burnham supporter. I went to hustings, I followed him on Twitter and went phone canvassing. I did as much as I could, and when I heard the result of the leadership, my heart sank. I yelled, I threw my TV emote across the room, I rang my mother almost in tears but in general I overreacted. Of course I was upset, I am ashamed to say the doomsday predictions of the media did get to me and thought a Corbyn win would plunge us back in to the electoral oblivion of the 1980s. 

But this initial fear was eventually replaced with the question; does it have to? When I was on the doorstep campaigning for the general election, one of the main concerns of people I spoke to was that there was no real difference between the two main parties. So if Jeremy is offering us an alternative then why do I fear his leadership? 

Though I still fundamentally disagree with his policies on NATO and trident. I am against nuclear warfare though I disagree with leaving ourselves without a deterrent to larger countries such as Russia. I do agree with the nationalisation of the railways, since privatisation has just seemed to make everything work less and cost more ,immigration, good for the economy and good for our consciences, education, a university education should be free to make us a globally competitive and gender equality, fifty percent of Labour MPs being women is a policy I'm willing to support. 

But there are other reasons I don't think his win is the end of the world; He is a good and plain speaker, he may not be a party man but he seems determined to work with everyone in the party. But also he has a mandate to lead, with just under 60% of the vote in the first round he has more of a mandate to lead the party than the Tories do to lead the country. This figure was the deciding factor in my decision to make peace with the result. If the party believes that Jeremy is the best leader we can offer, who am I to reject that decision. This article is meant to serve as an appeal to Andy supporters, Yvette supporters and Liz supporters, even though your mantra for the past months may have been ‘just because Jez we can doesn't mean Jez we should’ don't leave the party just yet, we've got 5 years to see what Jez is made of, let's try and keep our minds open?

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By: Francesca Hannay